Early last month, I had an opportunity to go back to university for the first time since my graduation years ago.
I was among 30 business leaders from Thailand raking part in a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience at Stanford University as part of the executive education programme called Leading in a Disruptive World, run by my organisation.
The aim of the trip was to reinforce the realisation that we are now living in an era of near-constant disruption, which also features an endless rise in entrepreneurship. Technology-driven disruption of entire markets and industries can happen overnight in a business landscapes made even more challenging by complexity, connectedness and competitiveness leading to increased volatility and risk; hence, innovation is the only way to win.
Our aim was to learn how the best disruptors in the world drive innovation and we got to see the new world at work in Silicon Valley. Here is a unique ecosystem in which the most creative minds, a culture of innovation, non-traditional venture capitalists, and outstanding academic institutions work in collaboration to foster the world’s most innovative companies.
At the end of the trip, however, I came to realise that the most beneficial lesson came from beyond the experiences I mentioned above. Although the programme took place over just one week in the heart of Silicon Valley, what I learned from this trip has truly changed my life and completely disrupted my perception — the way I look at myself, my business and the world around me. The Stanford programme has greatly transformed and exposed me to new perspectives. Also, it has challenged my assumptions, my preconceptions, and certainly my experience.
For me, this was not just another average training course; instead, it was more like shock therapy. There were no spoon-feeding or suggested answers here, just an inspiration to get a hands-on start at making a difference and to get started on trying something truly innovative and disruptive.
Given the title of the programme, “Leading in a Disruptive World”, our lessons were focused on approaches leaders can use, and there are a lot, but I’ll point out a few that I found truly worth mentioning.
Generate a breakthrough innovation, not just another new product: Most of the time, we try to fix the most obvious problems for our customers, and we offer them mere remedies or solutions in the hope of improving conditions. But by doing so we do not generate a breakthrough innovation; rather we are just doing more product development.
I learned that breakthrough ideas are those that serve the deep, latent needs that people feel but can’t easily describe. If your customer can tell you what the problem is — for example, “my computer runs slower than usual because it doesn’t have enough RAM” — then you immediately start to focus on the solution and just make a slightly better product or service. That’s not disruptive innovation, that’s product development.
Therefore, if you want to innovate, don’t begin with the end in mind, start with an insight into a deep, unmet customer need and see where it takes you. This is because if you’ve already decided what you’re going to make before you start, then inevitably that’s what you’ll end up with.
This deep level of human-centred insight comes from being truly empathic. Being an entrepreneur and innovator is not about sitting in your office trying to come up with a brilliant idea. It’s about getting out into the real world and really seeing it and the people in it; deeply empathising with them, their lives and their challenges.
Only by doing this will you ever be able to bring to the surface the deep, unmet needs that have real value to people.
Extreme collaboration and commitment: Then you have to transform the way you usually work with others in what Stanford calls “extreme collaboration”. It requires you to transform your mindset, to reflect and leave your ego, your perceptions and most of all your rank at the door. It also calls for you to separate idea generation from appraisal, to welcome failure for its learning value, and to invite real feedback rather than looking for validation.
The next step is your own commitment to action. There’s a sign at Stanford’s famous d.school, “The Only Way to Do It is Just to Do It”. It’s as simple — and as hard — as that. You can’t analyse your way to innovation; rather it’s a matter of experimentation, passion and energy.
In other words, don’t stop until you get somewhere worthwhile. The faster you get your ideas in front of customers, the faster you get feedback and “fail forward” to the solution.
All in all, the overall experience I received from this trip has transformed me completely as it enabled us to bring real-life challenges to a world-class institution, learn from the masters of innovation and visit the innovation pioneers of Silicon while seeing disruption in action.
In short, it has greatly challenged me and my organisation to embrace the extraordinary future of the disruptive era and learn how to thrive in it.
----------------------
Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer and Managing Director at SEAsia Center (formerly APMGroup) Southeast Asia’s leading executive, leadership and innovation capability development centre. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa
For daily updates, visit www.facebook.com/seasiacenter